SANTA ANA : Councilman’s Flight Results in Complaint

City Council candidate Glenn Mondo has accused incumbent Richards L. Norton of possibly violating a state law that prohibits elected officials from accepting free passes and discounts from an airline.

In a complaint dated Sept. 4, Mondo, a lawyer, asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate Norton, who allegedly accepted a ticket upgrade from an Eastern Airlines agent on July 18 “after having identified himself as a city councilman.”

According to a state law, a transportation company cannot grant free passes or discounts to anyone holding an office in the state.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said Thursday that officials have not yet reviewed the complaint.

Norton said Thursday that he does not think that he did anything wrong when he received the ticket upgrade when he and his wife were ready to leave on a honeymoon to the Virgin Islands on July 18.

“We were going on our honeymoon for God’s sake,” Norton said. “This wasn’t even a discount or a pass. They just bumped me up.”

Norton said his and his wife’s tickets were upgraded from coach to first class not because he requested it, but because the couple had just been married. Norton said the ticket agent saw the ceremonial City Council badge he carries in his wallet and asked if he was a police officer. Norton said he told the agent he was a councilman.

Norton said the dispute over the tickets came about because he had told Councilwoman Patricia A. McGuigan--his mother-in-law--about the ticket upgrading during a dinner break between council meetings in August. At that time, Norton said he mentioned that the ticket agent had asked about his councilman’s badge. The conversation was overheard by City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, who has often been at odds with Norton. Cooper said Thursday that he then told Norton that he might have broken the law.

“I advised him that it was illegal to accept it (the upgrade) as a councilman,” Cooper said.

Norton said that since his conversation with Cooper, he has made arrangements with Eastern Airlines to pay the $250 difference in the price of the tickets.